Seth Rogen recently told GQ that, 11 years later, he’s “pretty calm” about what happened when The Interview was released in 2014. The comedy, co-written by Rogen and starring opposite James Franco, is about two Americans who are ordered by the CIA to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (played by Randall Park).
Infamously, “The Interview” played a major role in the Sony hack. Data and emails from Sony employees were leaked online days before Thanksgiving in 2014, prompting hackers to demand that the studio withdraw the theatrical release of “The Interview.” The studio also faced threats from North Korea, so it opted to skip a national release and release the film through online digital rental and purchase. The group behind the Sony hack was Guardians of Peace, which claimed ties to North Korea.
When the Sony hack and “The Interview” came up, Rogen told GQ, “I don’t think about that as often anymore, so I think I’m pretty calm.” “I still don’t know if I know exactly what inevitably happened, who did what, and the exact sequence of events that led to something like that happening. Sometimes that truth feels a little elusive to me, and I go back and forth about what it is.”
Later, when GQ asked who was responsible for the Sony hack, Rogen replied, “I don’t know. Probably North Korea, but maybe in coordination with people in the United States. There’s a strong theory that Sony employees are angry, and it’s out there as well. So I don’t know. I feel like North Korea definitely had something to do with it, but I don’t know if the Americans had anything to do with it either.”
Rogen appeared on the Hawk vs. Wolf podcast in 2023 and admitted that his life was “really bad, really devastating” in 2014 when everything related to the Sony hack was down.
“People we knew were being fired. The head of the studio (Sony Pictures head Amy Pascal) was essentially fired,” Rogen said. “At the time, I think it really caused a seismic shift in Hollywood, and in some ways changed the way we do business… (also) recalibrated what I thought was controversial. And then I thought, now I know what it is, and I think the president… It’s controversial unless you have a press conference about it. If someone is angry about it on social media, it’s not controversial. If they have to make a statement about it, just like the United Nations does, then that’s a problem. ”
If Rogen has any regrets about The Interview, it’s more about the movie itself, and less about the chaos surrounding it. He told GQ that the film “could have used a different set of comedy pieces later in the second act. That could have strengthened the comedy in some way.”
“This is so funny because that’s my perspective,” Rogen added. “There were so many things that went wrong in this movie that I’m like, ‘I wish I had used a different set piece around page 70.'” For me, that’s what I would do differently with this movie if I could go back. I feel like I have a better understanding of what it takes for a comedy film to really please the audience in the way I want. ”
To read Rogen’s full profile, visit GQ’s website.
